To Defy The Gods
by A Commoner
Summary: A rewrite of Gate Thus the Vanu fought there
1. chapter 1

**_AN: This is the rewrite of "Gate: Thus the Vanu fought there", I've reviewed it and it felt terrible to read, so I'm back at it again._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

 ** _One century after the war_**

Four figures walked with difficulty as they ventured into the sandstorm, it was a mild one, which was certainly a relief to the patrolling men and woman. They moved forward with hands covering their faces, not that it would do anything to help since they already have their helmets. They held their weapons close to themselves, afraid of losing it to the storm. They were unfortunate enough with the storm when they heard a distant howl, which was from a local fauna.

"I swear to Vanu if that thing bites my arm off again I'm gonna quit and get my ass back to Auraxis!"

The voice of a man came over on the radio, despite the terrible storm.

"Apparently the beast likes you!" A young female replied.

"More like my flesh." The original speaker scoffed.

"Cut the crap people! Get your guns ready!" The officer said.

"Sir, with all due respect our guns did nothing before!" A novus said as they walked closer together. He then stopped completely, eyeing his surroundings as the others mirrored his movements. The storm have stopped and disappeared. The planet they were on was strange to say the least, for starters it was a barren wasteland, a desert planet to be exact. Second it had terrible sandstorms, though they were always brief and sudden. Those were still tolerable, what's was not was the beast which accompanied the storm, storm riders the colonist have begun to call them. They were never seen, only heard when the storm begins and that they were man-eaters.

Apparently human flesh was on its menu.

After the sudden storm, they've continued to return to base. Not so green fields with sand pits filled the horizon, with the occasional xeno flora and fauna passing by. The Vanu Sovereignty was attempting to terraform the planet, and they were about one third in progress. Fields of grass have begun to appear on other continents while the one they were on was still undergoing terraforming. It had only been a few years , yet they were already seeing results. This was thanks to the ridiculous amount of nanites they've dumped into the atmosphere, which would convert it to one that is breathable without helmets and nano-rebreathers, which basically allowed infinite air.

They were halfway through when they see a shimmer, a distortion to their far right, somewhere amongst the mountains. They were not amused to say the least. Sometimes bored people would turn off their IFFs and equip infiltrator suits and scare colonists. They promptly ignored the fools until they've realised something, the distortion was big, very big.

"Um..you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yup."

"Can't miss it."

The four man patrol team stared at the thing, as they've noticed it taking form, a large, ancient looking structure appeared before their eyes. The structure was made of stone, which was an odd building material for when they were in the third millennium. One of them was finally smart enough to radio in the anomaly.

"Command?" The leader said.

A few moments later came the lazy voice of the operator, "Yes? What's the matter?"

The leader gulpled before beginning, "Uhh… there's a strange looking structure here."

"Hey, I know you're bored, hell we all are but you have to stop making these ridiculous jokes." The operator replied, they were bored to death on this barren piece of land. It was only terraformed because miners wanted a "more comfortable " environment to work in. The project gained attention as volunteers began to build infrastructures and deploying nanites, only to find boredom again once everything was set up. The downside of being immortal.

X

Itami strolled along the streets of the settlement as he looked around like a tourists. He had been deployed here mere hours ago and they've already been given leave, not that they have anything to do. The Vanu military and society in general always granted a lot of freedom, you can do whatever you want as long as you follow moral codes, which no one dared to violate, and had no point to defile. Everything was free of charge thanks to nanotechnology, hence economy disappeared. If they want something, they just download the blueprint and let the nanoforge do its work, if it's too large for the home use forges, then one could always go to the public ones, which were capable of producing starships.

Itami walked into a nearby "store", which was owned by a local artist. He smiled when he saw what this "store" had to offer.

 _Anime merchandise._

"How may I help you?" The artists said while hand crafting a figure. Hand crafted items in the Sovereignty were always valued and their artists respected, this was, once again thanks to nanites. The ability to produce anything in mere seconds wiped the word "factory" off the dictionary. Everyone owned a mini nanoforge at their homes. It could produce anything, from your daily cup of coffee to a holopad. This made hand crafted items unique and valuable, and Itami happened to stumble upon a generous artists.

"Take one, I made them out of boredom anyways." The artist said without even batting an eye towards Itami.

"My thanks." Itami replied as he took one off the shelf and left after looking around a bit more.

X

The four soldiers have stared at the structure for several minutes, it was odd, very odd. It was simply impossible to have something appear like this. The operator had even told them to kill themselves and let the medic revive them, so that their insanity would be cured.

He promptly shut up when live footage came through. There it was, an ancient stone structure sitting in the middle of nowhere.

Then they heard it.

A thunderous roar came from the darkness of the structure, the four flicked safeties off and aimed at the darkness. It was a good 400m away, but they were able to see at such distance thanks to their scopes and enhanced vision through the helmets. Hundreds of green and brown coloured creatures charged through, they were yelling war cries as they swung their clubs around. They were followed by wave after wave of armoured humans clad in ancient and primitive armour.

The four were dumbfounded, Roman soldiers appearing through the structure with ogres and goblins? Creatures of fantasy and myths? Certainly their brains were damaged.

All of them gave themselves a good smack on the head, then they realised it was very much real. A fantasy army appeared, and apparently it was going for them. Despite the distance, there was nothing between them, just a large plain desert with random patches of green, so they were easily spotted.

The leader was about to radio the situation back when he remembered that command had live footage of what he was seeing, he then heard a ping, which indicated an objective update.

Two knelt in front while two stood at the back, which allowed maximum fire power. Normally they would find cover first, but seeing that they're in a desert and the enemy were using melee weapons, they have deemed the formation suitable.

They begun firing as soon as the passed the 350m mark, despite being potent weapons, plasma guns are still quite limited in range when in an atmosphere. Scores of the creatures began to drop as they fired. These monstrosities were no match for the superior weapons the Vanu used, even so for the men behind the foul creatures. Alas, they could only shoot so much before expending their ammunition, or batteries, to be precise. They've dropped a couple hundred of these primitives, before falling back, which meant redeploying, or killing themselves to rebirth at another place.

X Several minutes later, Vanu settlement

Itami was startled by the alarm and red flashing lights when he was returning to the barracks. This only meant one thing, they were under attack. But what could possibly do so on this planet? It's basically a dirt ball with minerals. And to be dangerous enough for the entire garrison in the glass dome to mobilise? None of this mattered to him as he made his way back to the barracks, he had a place, his new home to protect.

He quickly donned his armour and picked up his Pulsar VS-1 assault rifle and Beamer. Standard issue for all _Vanu Auxilia_ personal. He then rushed to the another equipment terminal, where he would be able to equip the rebreather.

He gathered at the hangar bay with his platoon of 48, where 3 galaxies 2 liberators and 6 scythes awaited them. They've quickly boarded their vehicles and went pass the shields which keep the air in. Despite being a few kilometre always, there was clearly a lot of things going on in a distance, a large cloud of dust and sands appeared at the reported location, where thousands of supposed fantasy creatures came through a gate. Itami, despite being an Otaku, still find something like this absurd. Aliens are understandable, but this? Not so much.

He looked out through the cockpit and immediately saw the scythes racing forward, seconds later they were already unleashing their Photon rocket pods, each vaporising scores of enemy. The liberators then ascended to where they were just below the clouds, but suddenly one of the them flipped, like something rammed it.

"What the hell are those dragons?!" He heard a pilot exclaim through the comms.

He then saw a scythe pulled off a reverse manoeuvre, the aircraft swiftly went backwards while facing the enemy, which was promptly ripped apart by the Saron Laser Cannon. He heard a whistle by his side, apparently everyone onboard was watching. As they closed in, he could see the formations of the Pseudo-Romans, their shields were raised while archers behind were shooting the aircrafts with arrows, it was a pathetic attempt. The galaxy simply fired its guns and the entire row of men turned into a fine red mist.

The men soon landed and took cover behind their aircrafts, plasma rounds immediately rained down upon the primitives, waves of men fell continually. It was no battle, it was a massacre, or target practice some might say. Other than being constantly under fire and ordered to charge forward, there was also one slight problem. The troops found their movements a bit slower and sluggish than usual, and that it with more and more difficult with each step. They were also slightly dizzy. Soon men begun to fall one by one without being shot, the effects were slightly more serious for those who got in first. The commander fell off his horse after vomiting.

"Mi'Lord!" His servant yelled, and soon suffered the same fate. Minutes later, the entire desert from the structure to the Vanu was filled with corpses.

A chuckle was heard from the Vanu line, "Fools, to come here with out oxygen is simply suicide."

The men soon approached the sea of corpses, it was a spectacular sight, they could imagine the war of their ancestors in the 1910s. Where men charged blindly into superior machine gun fire, this was quite a similar experience, but it was also their first taste of combat yet nothing like the Great Auraxian War. They soon reprimanded themselves a bit, to say this massacre was a battle was an insult to the honoured veterans.

Days later

Itami and his platoon and many more were assembled at the base, where almost a thousand men lined up in formation while scores of vehicles were positioned in front. Amongst them was a medium size unit of the _Legio Auraxia_ , Itami and his fellow soldiers were honoured, to venture into the unknown with the founding fathers of their nation would be something brag about for years.

An objective update soon appeared, they need not fancy speeches or glamorous ceremonies, though there was a sizeable crowd of citizens nearby to see their family or friends off. The men silently embarked their vehicles and ventured into the unknown.


	2. chapter 2

**_AN: Just so you know everything in the Vanu arsenal will be upgraded, meaning Magrider rounds don't have that ridiculous bullet drop. The Encyclopaedia Auraxia states that Vanu weaponry is superior and as a rule of thumb: one Vanu soldier can take on ten enemies alone, but is outnumbered at least ten to one._**

The first metal floating beast came through when the men were preparing supper, where the camp was located a few hundred meters with the generals debating whether or not to send scouts through the gate, it had been a few days since they heard from anyone after all. Still, the men were in a relaxed state, the army sent through was the finest Imperial army, which was never defeated.

They were proven wrong when It came through,

the floating beast was in purple, a colour of Royalty and absolute power, it also had teal trimmings, which was somehow glowing without a torch. At the front was a short snout, which was also faintly glowing. At the sides were sharpened razor blades, sharp enough to slice an armoured man in two.The men were awestruck when it stopped moving and surveyed the camp, like it was searching for its prey.

Lux activated the mag burner as he saw light at the end of the tunnel, it had been a boring twenty minute drive in the dark, and he was struggling to not fall asleep. The magrider boosted outwards as Lux's inner scientist screamed at him to explore the unknown lands. He was greeted by lush green fields and trees similar to those on Terra, which he recognised in the history books. A thought came across his mind, Could it be? To set foot on Terra after four centuries..Impossible, Terra didn't have ogres, certainly no dragons too. He then saw the orderly rows of tents and fire camps. All he did was pressed at random spot on the screen, which showed the entire camp, the Magrider automatically turned itself and aimed its supernova plasma cannon, then fired.

All hell broke loose as the beast rained miniature green suns of righteous fury upon them. The orbs arced slightly when it was launched, and disintegrated the land as it landed, those nearby were either vaporized and turned into more plasma or exploded upon contact with such high temperatures. The men immediately scattered, the enemy beyond somehow brought a floating catapult and was raining suns on them. Suns! The men could clearly see it was just a orb of green fire, nothing solid was enough, but those who have watched it for too long find themselves with blurred vision, some were even blinded.

Soon more and more floating beasts arrived, where they continued the massacre. Blood soon flowed like rivers as the red liquid stained the sacred hill. Vanu troops were still disembarking when the massacre ended, some Auxilia members even removed their helmets and puked at such a gory sight. Reasonable, Lux thought, he too puked when he saw people ran over by harassers and a leg hit him in the Great War. Still, this was nothing compared to the war.

Itami closed his eyes as he slapped a new battery and turned on the safety, he leaned against a deployed sundered as he sighed. It was a gruesome sight, yet he felt oddly satisfy for killing those invaded his planet, one of the many in the Sovereignty. He looked up at the sky and waited for the upcoming massacres to come.

X

King Duran shot a arrow out of desperation as he laughed like a maniac. The entire allied army had been massacred, butchered at Alnus Hill, and he now know why. Green suns that illuminated the dark sky would obliterate scores of men every few seconds while magical purple bolts would rain down upon the men, where even the strongest steel could not stop it. Then a realisation came to his mind, perhaps this was an army filled with mages. That would explain the floating beasts he scouts reported which fired suns and rained fire arrows at them, albeit all of them were either purple or green. They have invaded a magical kingdom where mages were as common as spear men.

Lux climbed out of the Magrider as the massacre of 70,000 men ended, he and the others had been firing non stop at the allied forces which came in three waves, he almost felt pity for them, almost. He saw Alektos, his and friend and gunner, climbed out from the gunner seat as well. A lot of the men would retrieve trophies from the primitives, with the crested helmets of officers being the most favourable, he too, had mounted a few on his Magrider.

Mercy kill teams began to move out as bulldozers accompanied them, they couldn't possibly leave the bodies to rot and endure the smell, even with helmets on. The bulldozers scooped up people and brought them to the nano-converter, which was set up during the massacre, bodies were dumped in and the nanites began to disassemble their bodies at the atomic level, where they will be reused for whatever purpose, for example, construction. The fundamental building material in the Sovereignty is reaction mass after all, which is basically anything that can be broken down. It would be a waste to not use these reaction mass. It didn't really sicken him that much, for all he knew his next meal would be made from someone else's shit.

They've spent the whole day doing that as engineers began laying down the infrastructures, using the reaction mass from the bodies. Very environmentally friendly indeed. By the time Lux woke up the next morning, a tower was already built with a few barracks surrounding it, while the "Gate", as scientists called it, was situated right in front of the tower. The tower served as both the command centre and vehicle spawning terminals.

Lux spent his hours playing with his phone as they had nothing to do while they waited. It was quite boring to be immortal, he was 124 years old, spent eight years fighting when he was 16, then lived for another century until the Sovereignty discovered the gate. Finally he had something else to do other than exploring planets, which certainly was exciting but they were without intelligent life, you couldn't really do much with animals except for sampling and testing if they're edible. He merely glanced at Alektos when he came through the door, one couldn't really surprise a veteran, they were used to those after all.

"You could've messaged me." Lux said, he was lying on the bed with his sleeping clothes.

"Recon mission, the both of us were attached to a..3rd Recon Team, Auxilia." Alektos replied after glancing at the holo-pad.

"Now?"

"Now."

Lux headed outside towards a terminal, and promptly equipped his armour in a mist of green nanites. He was clad in Zealot Engineer armour with an Exemplar helmet, on his hands was the Eidolon and manticore pistol on his hips. Three white tubes were also at the back.

"Are you copying me?" Though Alektos was carrying an Archer and a Cerberus pistol.

Lux ignored him as he left the barracks, he had received the notification the moment his HUD turned on. He made his way to the motor pool, where a platoon sized element was standing at attention, though he quickly realised it was four separated squads. Alektos, also clad in Zealot Engineer armour, caught up with him as he approached the task force commander.

"Where to?" They both asked, it might seem outright disrespectful to any other armies officer, but the burning planet decal quickly justified their actions.

"Third recon team." The man pointed to a sunderer, "over there, honoured ones."

The pair approached the team and noticed something, they stood their as they scanned their faces. At least half of the squad was Asian.

"Honoured ones," Itami gestured for everyone to bow, "I am Ascendant Itami Yoji, third reconnaissance tea. An honour to serve with you."

"Centurion Lux, Scions of Vanu." He said, "and this Alektos of the same rank and unit." He noticed a short female soldier slightly squirming, but quickly disregarded her. People were always like this. He then continue his scan, a few older men, a tall girl and a bunch of rookies, Initiates and Novuses, fresh from boot camp.

"Seems capable," Alektos said, he then turned to Itami, " Note that we were told to accompany you as advisors, you will still be in command of this squad."

Itami felt a drop of sweat as he heard his words. The sudden shift of command shocked him, he thought the veterans would be taking over so that he can relax. Apparently not. Now he would be observed and evaluated, he can't do anything stupid, lest he disappointed them. The words of a honoured one are highly valued and respected, if they say he is incompetent, then he is incompetent. He gulped.

His actions didn't go unnoticed as the veteran in white spoke, "Don't worry, we don't care about your performance, we're here for the exploration and adventure."

The whole squad visibly relaxed. Itami then asked, " Sir, the sunderer only has twelve seats, it wouldn't be-"

He was cut off by Alektos when he raised his hand and pointed to the other side of the motor pool. There sat a Magrider painted in Alpine camo, a Saron HRB sat on top while crested helms of fallen pseudo-Romans rested on top of the fins, which were located near the end of the tank. Lux still noticed the short girl squirming, even more this time.

"You, what's your name?" Lux pointed at the short Japanese girl.

"A-Adept Shino Kuribayashi, sir!" She despised her new commander, Itami, due to his Otaku nature, which was stuck with his Japanese blood. The man in front her was a whole other story, a veteran, a man who fought in the Great Auraxian War and one of the founding fathers of her nation, she can respect that. Besides, she loves strong men who could beat her in combat, certainly the man in front could do so with relative ease. To be picked by a veteran was something beyond an honour.

"Stop squirming." She ceased her movements with her eyes wide open, then slumped at his words, her first impression was ruined. She then went into a "Orz" position, further ruining her image. Lux turned back to Itami, "when do we leave?"

"As soon as the others are done...which is about now." Itami said as he looked at the other teams.

"Alright then." Alektos said, then headed to his magrider with Lux.

X

The "bus" and magrider strolled along the countryside as the men admired the view. It wasn't uncommon though, most of the troops have visited other garden worlds, where nature is untouched by man made structures. Still, there was something captivated about the scenery, mostly because actual intelligent life dwell here.

They've soon spotted a small village upon climbing a hill, smokes came from chimneys as villages walked about following their daily routines. The villagers stopped when they saw the steel carriage and the floating beast with a short snout approached their village. Other than the menacing beasts, the colour also frightened them. Purple, Royalty.

As they've reached the village gate, villagers began to kneel down and put their hands over their hearts as a sign of respect. Lux and the others were confused, surely no sane men would bend to the opposing nations soldiers. He hopped down the magrider as the other did the same, though he let Itami approach the old man, which seemed to be the village chief.

"Mi'Lords, how may this lowly village chief be of service?"

Itami glances at Lux, then at Alektos, who both shrugged. Seeing that he won't be getting any help, he sighed before continuing.

"I believe you're mistaken," he said while making sure the translation software was working. "We are not Lords, merely soldiers."

"But you bear the colour of Royalty, Mi'Lord."

"Um, that's just our faction colour, just like the Empire's red. So..we're foreigners in this land and we would like directions."

After some discussions, Itami received his notepad with simple drawings on it, there was a hill with a scared temple, then the village they were currently in, and river which lead to a forest, with a circle and two pointy triangles.

"So...what's this?" Alektos pointed to the circle in the forest.

"Elves." Itami replied promptly, "Only one race would have pointy ears and live in forests."

"Lead the way then." Lux gestured, then boarded the Magrider as the sunderer moved out.

It was near nightfall when they approach the forest, the small convoy stopped at ridge as they've decided to retire for the night. This was when they noticed something massive at the horizon, near the edge of the forest. Itami grabbed the binoculars while the the others looked through their scopes.

"By Papa Vanu, it's a huge dragon!"

"The biologists back home would love this. You think we can kill it? Besides I don't think it's just passing by."

"It's uh….spitting fire now."

"You think there's a village down there?"

"The chief did mention the whole forest was populated."

"Swiftly! We must kill the dragon before it slaughter the elves!" Lux glanced Alektos. He knew it! Alektos had been playing too much fantasy VR games, a hundred years!

The Auxilia troops somehow thought it was his normal way of speech, since the both of them didn't talk much in the journey. Or they didn't care at all.

"But we will surely die in this fire, the thing just lit half the forest in seconds." Kurokawa Mari, the squad medic said.

Lux looked at her and shrugged.

"We can't die, or are you afraid of it?"


	3. chapter 3

Amidst the trees of Koan Forests, a lone figure stood on top of a massive, crimson arm of a dragon. With a foot on the curved claws and raised weapon, a bright flash quickly followed, the picture of Alektos standing on the mutilated dragon arm was taken, a few other flashes followed with the entire squad taking turns, it was the first time that an actual dragon has been defeated, or chased off to be precise, in Human history after all. After the pictures, the squad began taking trophies, most went for the unburnt scales while a couple went for the huge claws. Lux on the other hand, was lucky to retrieve a broken tooth, though it was still half the length of his forearm. He stuffed it in his buttpack then quickly returned to the convoy. They have a village to go back to.

 _Flashback_

"It must be hunting" someone said through the comms, "or else it would have no reason to burn down half of the forest other than entertainment."

"Agreed, we'll see if we can kill it, or at the minimum chase it away. The Sovereignty would look good, and we-" Lux paused, "can go dragon hunting."

Best idea ever, Itami thought, while he was lazy and would avoid trouble at any cost, he wasn't afraid and he didn't dare to disobey a direct order from the honoured-ones, lest he be labelled as a coward. He knew he was probably a great disappointment for those who knew him, especially to those officers whose parents were veterans.

The convoy continued along the dark forest path for another few minutes until they came across a large opening which was in front of a village, an elven village. Most were glued to the windows of the sunderer. The headlights illuminated the village gate, and its inhabitants which were close to said gate. Even Lux would have to admit, they sure are good looking, a thought of moving here appeared, though he quickly dismissed it.

it was most intriguing as they could finally say fantasy had become reality. Though he was really concerned that the elves were more afraid of them rather than the big, red dragon slaughtering their kin in a distance. Still, Itami would have to converse with them, or else they would just stand there with mouth agape and let the dragon burn them. Itami, seemingly have read his thought, came out of the sunderer which was behind the magrider and walked towards the elves.

The elves didn't kneel down like the villagers back in Coda Village, instead their bows were at the ready and pointed at Itami, while a few others had glowing orbs on their hands. Apparently it had attracted everyone's attention as the rest of the Auraxia squad scrambled out of the vehicle while Lux merely zoomed in with the magrider's optics, not that arrows can actually hurt them when bullets have a hard time penetrating their energy shields.

"We come in peace!" Itami said.

"It would be difficult to convince others with that metal beasts behind you!" A voice shouted out as a middle-aged man came through the wall of guards. He might be older, but he still had that musical tone which was said to be born with elves. The elven guards were clad in light armour while the elder in the middle was in robes.

"It's a sunderer."

"Sunderer? The term is unheard of." The elder replied.

"It's like an armoured wagon." Itami tried to explain.

"And that?" The elder pointed at the floating carriage.

"Honored one, it would be better if you come out."

Alektos grunted as the hatch opened, the daylight somehow blinded him through his tinted visor, revealing two men seated within the floating beast. Both men had glowing panels surrounding them, it almost seemed…magical.

To have a self moving, floating wagon, and to be completely armoured, truly magnificent. The elder stroked his chin as he inspected the magrider while the guards tried to warn him. The elves were a peaceful species, but they could see the potential of such an armoured carriage. He eyed the two men in the carriage, which somehow opened itself. He could sense that they were dangerous men, but they didn't do anything so he would leave them be, elves are pacifists after all.

"Very well, we would have welcomed guests normally, but as you can see the timing is not quite right, the flame dragon has awakened and is in the process of slaughtering our kin." He said with a sad tone while pointing at said beast, which was about ten kilometres away. "We are next, so we are preparing to flee as we speak."

Even at the entrance, they could see elves running around with bags and wagons on the main road. "As you can see, we are in a dire situation, you should flee too, no man had ever chased off a flame dragon, let alone kill it."

"Then we will do so." Itami said, which was according to plan. " We will fight it and buy you time."

"Even with your magical carriage such attempts would be futile!" The elder insisted. "You will die!"

Lux glanced at him, while others either snorted or chuckled. "Your persuasion is meaningless, though appreciated. We will go nonetheless."

The elves were touched, a young girl even shed tears. No human had ever lend aid to "inferior" species, let alone give their lives for them. Such noble acts would be unheard of in the Empire.

"Before you go, I believe proper introductions must be made." The elder stopped the men in purple while they were boarding their carriages.

"We hail from the Vanu Sovereignty, a place beyond the gate at Alnus Hill." Alektos replied.

"Noble warriors of the Vanu Sovereignty, we wish you luck." The elder said while bowing down with the others, "We are in your debt."

Flashback end

It had been an interesting fight, Lux thought as they began their journey back to the village. The dragon wasn't that difficult to chase it away, though it was certainly a tough son of bitch. It's superior mobility in the skies allowed it to dodge plasma cannon rounds as they tried to shoot it whenever Lux found a small hill to compensate for the plasma cannon's low elevation, while Alektos spammed the Saron HRB. There had been a few dangerous moments as the flames burnt down everything around them and the claws landed near them, which was avoided by the magrider's constant side strafing. Unfortunately one hit its target and left a nasty mark on the hull. Alektos had to go through the trouble of reprogramming the repair tool to not register the mark as damage.

The dragons' arm dragged along the dirt road as the sunderer followed the magrider, the fight had lasted hours until sunrise, where a heavy rain soon followed. They were unable to place the arm in both vehicles, not to mention the top where the turrets were situated. Though dragging it would probably damaged the specimen, it would have to do.

The sight of the floating carriage appeared before the guards eyes as the men in purple arrived at the small opening at the village gate. They had waited and watched for the whole night as the sky had been lit up by their potent spells, green orbs would be hurled at the flame dragon while smaller bolts of green and purple would be fired in constant volleys. The sound of their spells were even heard from such a distance, the flames danced below the dragon where the Vanus were. To say the scene was magnificent was an understatement, in centuries, perhaps in millennia, mortals were finally able to fend off the infamous flame dragon. Still,it was a miracle that the entire forest did not burn down with that kind of fight.

Cries of Joy erupted from the elves as the Vanu troops disembarked from their "vehicles". Some of the children even began to throw flowers at them, apparently they have gathered it the moment they saw the flame dragon retreating. Rounds of applause filled their ears as Lux was forced to tune down his audio receptors, even gunfire would be more pleasant to hear. Lux, like most of his generation weren't exactly sociable, it proved difficult to speak to others when everyone was focused on fighting every second. Their generation only knew war, and spoke through actions. They also have little to no personal goals, only seeking to improve themselves to serve the Sovereignty better or discover new Vanu technology to further speed up mankind's evolution. Now that they have accomplished the first and making steady progress on the second, they don't really have anything else to do. For now, Lux would indulge himself in this magical world and try to enjoy a 'normal' life.

A feast soon followed after the celebration, which lasted until midday. All of the elves laughed and danced joyfully as they surrounded the Vanu troops and praised them. The troops seemed awkwardly happy, to be praised as heroes was something new. Lux and Alektos on the other hand, did not have such emotions. Sure they were glad that the elves were saved, but the death of themselves or others didn't concern them that much, they knew the thought was somewhat wrong for a "normal" human, but sadly they weren't "normal". Deep inside, all of the veterans were a bit insane, psychotic even.

A few of them were invited to see the chief, which was the middle-aged man they met at the entrance. They went up the tree house after the feast, which both Alektos and Lux didn't participate, it was quite beautiful and merged perfectly with the tree, as if the house was simply an extension of the tree. They were quite surprised to see the spacious room of the house, one would imagine it being cramped and tiny because of the limited space, these houses were also connected with one another, which led to a tight knit community.

Lux, Alektos, Itami and a couple more entered a room, where the village chief was waiting. "Welcome to my humble abode." He began, "I thank you once more for saving our villages and lives." He bowed deeply.

"Nonsense," Itami said, " It is only proper to help those in need, humans or not." Most Vanu citizens considered themselves to be xenophiles, they would very much like to meet other aliens races, elves might look human, but they should be genetically different, so to Itami, Elves are still xenos.

"Indeed, the dragon is also a threat to us, chasing it off would do no harm to anyone." Alektos added.

"Truly noble ones, I would very much like to repay you but we have nothing to offer now, the forest is decimated, without it our major food source is gone. We cannot trade with other villages too ,for they are no more. We also do not have much food left after the feast, but it was necessary to boost morale for the upcoming hardships."

"We understand, we only wish to take samples of the fauna and flora here. We would also like to take one villager with us."

Fear appeared on the chief's faces, he was about to plead for his or her life when Lux stopped him with a raised hand.

"Do not worry, we merely want to do some medical examinations, the villager would not be in injured in any way, we also guarantee his or her safety, supply of food and accommodation. The chosen one will be treated with utmost respect. " He finished as he put two small black boxes on the table.

"These are radios, you can contact the villager with this."

"Pardon me but it's just a small box, are they enchanted with communication magic?"

The troop paused for a moment before Alektos spoke up.

"In a way, yes. When you see a red sign appear on the screen, just put it under the sun for half an hour then it'll be fine."

"Very well, do you have anyone in mind?" The chief was certainly frightened and wary, but what could he do about it? These people defeated the flame dragon and saved their lives, they could ask for anything and the villagers would gladly offer it. He even noticed some villagers praying to them, as if they were apostles of a deity. If the chief knew of Lux's outift name, which was Scions of Vanu, he would probably pray to them as well.

"Anyone would do, preferably a healthy one."

"Of course, then I should go ask my daughter, please allow me some time." The chief said before leaving the room.

A few moments later the chief returned with a beautiful young lady, she was dressed in a light green tunic, which appeared to be the only clothing the female elves seemed to wear.

They went around the table where the father sat, and the girl stood behind him.

"This is my daughter, Ayla. The finest Artisan in the village." The girl bowed once again.

She had brown hair and eyes of the same colour, with the former having a tad bit of blonde mixed in it.

"I shall be in your care, Mi'Lords." She said, then flinched at the sight of the two men in helmet staring at her. It was true that while most villagers were thankful for saving their village, they were still wary of them, especially the two in ornate armour with bright colours. The one in white with grey patches had a helmet with a large black faceplate with four glowing bits, while the one in pale purple had an emotionless faceplate with glowing green eyes, it terrified them to no end. The purple one also had a huge staff coloured in green with patches of brown, which, to the elves appeared to be a powerful magical staff.

"Good, we will depart in one hour. Ayla, we shall meet you by the village entrance." With that, the men in purple left.

The chief quickly looked left and right at the hallway before locking the door, then he turned to his daughter.

"Listen Ayla, I hope you can understand the reason for choosing you. The forest is decimated, our fellow elves and and animals we hunt are all gone, this forest can no longer support us, we will be forced to trade with the humans or even poach. It is better for you to go with them, you will be safe under their protection, no matter what they do to you." Both elves shed a tear.

The two embraced one another, then Ayla left to pack her things.

One hour later

The squad was already on their vehicles when Ayla arrived, one would notice her puffy eyes if he looked close enough. A Novus quickly hopped off and climbed on the Magrider, Ayla thanked him, then boarded the so called sunderer.

She was petrified, yet immensely pleased with the seats of the steel wagon. It was comfortable with cushions stuck on the back and on the seat itself, there was also no bumping like one would expect to come with wagons. She couldn't tell the speed since all she could see were trees, but it felt pretty fast.

Ayla assumed the men in purple received orders to 'look around', which is what they did for the entire morning. She had gotten quite bored after a couple hours and she asked for permission to rest. The question shocked the Vanus, she would later discovered that they never thought she would ask for permission for something like that. The convoy arrived at a burnt down village when she woke up, apparently she had slept through lunch and no one bothered to wake her up.

Her hunger was soon dismissed when she got out of the sunderer, once ancient trees reduced to ashes, collapsed houses with dead elves here and there, she tried to vomit but nothing came out, it only made her felt sicker. The others in purple had similar reactions, but the two odd ones were walking as if they were in a park, there were no visible disgust from them, she pondered what they have done or witnessed to be like this. Even the mightiest veterans in the Empire would have felt a bit sick.

Ayla didn't personally knew this village's inhabitants, but she was quite sure some of her friends friends were killed here. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't, she have to be strong for she would be alone in the coming years.

She was quite thirsty and felt dehydrated after walking in this burnt village for a while, even after the rain the wood was still hot to the touch, which made the place warmer than usual. She spotted a well, then walked towards it with a "canteen", which was given to her by one of the female members. Ayla dropped the bucket then frowned, instead of the normal water splash, she heard a thump, as if it hit something solid. She peered down then saw a fellow elf, a rare one, too.

X

"How is she?" The Vanu with long, blackhair asked.

"She is fine, Mi'Lady, but I believe she...is unconscious due to the bucket." Ayla said with shame. "It would be the best to let her wake up naturally."

"Of course," the medic replied with a smile, "we do not know much about Elven biology after all, that is why you are coming with us."

Silence followed.

"So," the medic began again , "we will head back to base now. Better get some sleep, you'll have a lot to do once we've arrived."

"Will we stop at Coda village first?" The elf asked.

"No, why?"

"We must inform them of the flame dragon! It can track our scent so it will follow us, but if we flee from the dragon it would search for other prey."

"Oh...Itami?," Kurokawa spoke through the comms.

"Yes?" Came the lazy voice of Itami.

"We have to stop by Coda village to tell them of the flame dragon."

"Ummm...Alright, might as well ask them for more information." He replied.

Some time later

"What?! The flame dragon's here? We must leave at once! And because of that we cannot take care of the other elf, sorry." The chief soon calmed down, then panicked again after noticing he was the only one not packing.

"Yes, we have successfully drove it off, but according to the elf here," Lux gestured to Ayla, " the dragon can track our scent and will follow us, but if we flee then it will go for you instead."

"Thank you for telling us, If you would excuse me." The chief bowed, then left to join his family.

"So what do we do with them now ?" Kurokawa asked after some time, the troops have been helping the villagers pack and directing the convoy, "Humanitarian aid", a concept lost during the possibly eternal war finally resurfaced, it comforted Lux and Alektos a bit after they've helped a few villagers, they were finally becoming Human again.

The villagers, despite grateful for their help, couldn't help but be intimidated, which happens when two masked men started to help you suddenly but still give off an aura that they can kill you any second.

"We escort them for the time being, high command had given us permission to do things as we see fit." Lux said as he glanced at a startled horse.

"Of course, honoured one." Kurokawa replied, she was about to return to her duties when she a young child falling down from a carriage, which happened to be turned over. Villagers immediately swarmed her, which Kurokawa promptly shoved away as she made her way to the young girl. She took out her medical applicator then pulled the trigger, a stream of green particles flowed towards the girl, her rapid breathing immediately lowered as the light made contact. The fractured skull also healed, which upon its recovery, woke her up.

Just as Kurokawa was going to help her up, another blue haired girl came over and gazed in wonder, all of the villagers who witnessed the healing were left with mouths agape. It was impossible to heal someone so quickly, even with healing magic it could take hours to fully heal her.

"We are blessed by the Gods!" To the villagers, what she did was beyond magic, beyond mortal comprehension. There was simply no way for a human to heal another human so quickly, " The Gods have sent them to aid us!" Villagers began praying to them, and in extension, Vanu.

These people have brought her back in seconds...I must know how! Leilei thought as she followed the convoy after the praying.


End file.
